Sunday, January 29, 2006, 11 Sultán 162 BE
In 1997 a friend of mine wrote to the House of
Justice about the recognition (or not) of the
next Manifestation. He received this reply.
David
MESSAGE:
The Universal House of Justice has received your
email message of 24 May 1997 inquiring about the
eventual recognition of the next Manifestation of
God by the Universal House of Justice. Regarding
your request to be provided with a copy of a
particular letter from the House of Justice to an
individual believer in which this matter was
addressed, regrettably we were not able to
determine which of several letters written on
this subject by the House of Justice, or by the
Department of the Secretariat on behalf of the
House of Justice, you were referring to. One
such letter, which encompasses the contents of the others, is excerpted below.
With reference to infallibility, you quote from
"Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh" that
"trials and tribulations have, from time
immemorial, been the lot of the chosen Ones of
God...", and express concern that this implies
that the Universal House of Justice will not
recognize the next Manifestation of God.
There are several statements in the Sacred
Scriptures of our Faith which are related to this
general subject, and one in particular is found
in "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh", ("The World
Order of Bahá'u'lláh", p. 117) as follows: "My
fears are for Him Who will be sent down unto you
after Me Him Who will be invested with great
sovereignty and mighty dominion". When a
National Assembly wrote to the Guardian, asking
about this reference, the following reply was sent on his behalf.
"...this refers to the Manifestation Who is to
come after a thousand or more years, Who like all
previous Messengers of God will be subjected to
persecutions, but will eventually triumph over
them. For men of ill will have been and will
always continue to be in this world, unless
mankind reaches a state of complete and absolute
perfection a condition which is not only
improbable but actually impossible to attain."
As you see, the persecutions to which the next
Manifestation will be subjected will be carried
out, according to the above statement, by "men of
ill will" who, alas, "will continue to be in this
world". There is nothing in the Writings to
support the view that the opposition or
persecution will be instigated or inflicted by the Universal House of Justice.
You are aware, of course, that one of the reasons
for the appearance of a new Manifestation of God
is to bring forth a spiritual renewal, as the
former Dispensation would have passed through its
stages of growth and reached its zenith. You can
be sure that the Supreme Institution of the
Faith, "under the care and protection of the Abhá
Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance
of His Holiness, the Exalted One", will exert
every effort to recognize, when the time is ripe,
the reality of the new Manifestation, and lead
men to Him. How the majority of the people at
that time will respond is a truth locked up in the treasury of God's knowledge.
We trust that this information will aid in your understanding of this subject.
Department of the Secretariat
The quotes the Guardian gathered in the Dispensation state as explicitly as
any subject in the Baha'i Writings that it will be not less than 1000 years
before the next Manifestation. The Covenant, unlike other subjects in the
Faith (like the mystical teachings) are not hidden and waiting to be
discovered. They are express. The Covenant is absolutely crystal-clear, in
explicit verses. Not only Baha'u'llah's written Covenant to turn to the
Master; and the Master's Covenant to turn to the House and the Guardian; but
in addition Baha'u'llah's Covenant regarding the appearance of the next
Manifestation. The thousand years could not be more explicit. (WOB 132)
Furthermore:
Whosoever interpreteth this verse otherwise than its obvious meaning is
deprived of the Spirit of God and of His mercy which encompasseth all
created things.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Aqdas, Page: 32)
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